THE JOHN WILLIAMS RULE

Before there was Joe Biden, who vaulted to vice
president, before there was Bill Roth, who was a
household name from his Roth IRA and Roth-Kemp tax cut,
there was John Williams.

He was another standout senator from Delaware.
Further confirmation, as if it were needed, to show how
smart it was for Framers of the Constitution to create a
chamber in the Congress where members from little states
would not get lost in the pile of big states.

Williams, a Republican, was the smallest of the
small. He was a down-home Sussex County chicken feed
dealer who went to Washington in 1946. He was not much
to look at, and he had a voice as thin as a single
harmonica note, but it did not stop him from earning a
towering reputation as the "Conscience of the Senate."

Williams put a lot of people in jail for uncovering
corruption among tax officials and exposed influence
peddling by the secretary of the Senate.

Williams also had a rule. He thought it was time to
quit running if another term meant turning 70 while
still in office. He followed his rule himself. He
retired in 1970 at 66.

It was like George Washington walking away after two
terms as president when there was nothing to stop him
but principle. Delawareans were so impressed, it became
a standard known as the "John Williams Rule."

Williams has been gone a long time. The voters here
may not consciously be aware of him or his rule, but it
is in their DNA. They tend to enforce it. They may be
lenient for an extra term here and there, but after
that?

They made Mike Castle follow it. Mike Castle,
who won more statewide races than any other Republican
in Delaware history. Castle was re-elected as a
congressman in 2008 when he was 69, but he did not get
to be a senator in 2010 when he was 71.

The same went for Roth, another Republican. Never
mind his national profile. He was 73 when he skirted the
rule and won in 1994, but he was out when he tried it
again at 79 in 2000.

Birthdays and elections come and go. It is time to
look at the John Williams Rule again.

Biden, as the Democratic vice president, belongs to
the country these days, but he is probably on the
borderline. Elected at 29 as one of the youngest
senators ever, Biden will be 69 on Election Day. (All
that speculation about swapping in Hillary Clinton does
not affect the rule much. She would be a 65-year-old
candidate for vice president.)

For Tom Carper, the Democratic senator who will be on
the ballot, it seems too early for him to be reading the
fine print on the rule. He turns 65 later this month.

When John Williams made up his rule, he was talking
about federal office, but it has had a way of trickling
down to the General Assembly in Dover, too.

Look at Nancy Cook, a state senator who was one of
the most formidable legislators ever. Her Kent County
district sent her back in 2006 when she was 70, but not
in 2010 when she was 74.

Strangely enough, the voters from Williams' home base
in Sussex County are the ones most likely to shrug off
the rule.

They kept electing Tina Fallon, a Republican
representative from Seaford, until she retired at 89.
Thurman Adams, the Senate's Democratic president pro tem
from Bridgeville, did not exit until he was 80 and there
was a recall election conducted by the one Great Voter
in the Sky.

The biggest guessing game in Legislative Hall, as the
new session opened this week, was wondering about Bob
Gilligan, the Democratic speaker. Gilligan just turned
70 and began his 40th session. His legislative tenure is
a Delaware record.

Gilligan threw himself a "70/40 Party" last week.
Nearly 300 people, including the governor, showed up for
it at the Mill Creek fire hall, and almost all of them
were looking for clues that could show whether Gilligan
would be running again.

People noticed the party was not a fund-raiser and
Gilligan mentioned he would be visiting his daughter in
Hawaii in the fall. The fall? Prime campaign time?

Gilligan himself has not said what he will do. In the
meantime, it is better not to ask him what he thinks
about the John Williams Rule.

"We live in a different society than when John
Williams was alive," Gilligan fumed.

"People in their 70s are citizens. People in their
70s pay taxes. People in their 70s are contributing
members of society. People in their 70s are vibrant.
People in their 70s have a right to run for office. Ever
hear of age discrimination?"

Gilligan was not done yet. "If your health is good
and you feel good, it's up for the people to decide, not
some rule from John Williams. We would be better off if
John Williams had run."

Sooner or later, one way or another, everyone's time
in politics runs out. John Williams decided to go like
the old soldier, just fading away, but he faded away
undefeated and unbowed, the voters with him until the
end.